Bacteria increasing resistance to antibiotics is a serious problem. It is predicted that within a short period of time there will be many bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics. New biologically active compounds, e.g. antibiotics, can be found using combinatorial chemistry. The principle is that, instead of synthesizing one substance at a time, one synthesizes millions of substances in a mixture called a library. The library is then scanned for biological properties, and the most active compounds are identified. Hereby you can find new biologically active compounds with interesting properties.

Great Options For the Peptides

Peptides are small proteins that form part of a variety of biological processes. Biologically active peptides are found in many different areas, e.g. hormones, growth factors, neurotransmitters, signal substances and antibiotics. Among the more well-known peptides, the artificial sweetener is aspartame and enkephalins, which are used by the body to alleviate pain. Peptides are like proteins made up of L-amino acids. To buy peptides this is a very important thing that you need to keep in account. There are a total of 20 different amino acids that can be included in proteins.

Find the Simplest Peptides

The simplest peptide is a dipeptide. It is formed by the carboxylic acid group on one amino acid reacting with the amino group on the other amino acid and cleaving water. Reaction of the resulting dipeptide with another amino acid, a tripeptide, etc. is there. A molecule containing less than 50 amino acid units is called a peptide. Is it built up of more than 50 amino acid units, it is termed a protein.

Peptide synthesis

Chemical synthesis of peptides and peptide-based compounds can be used to get larger amounts of a known biologically active substance so that it can be studied further, to stabilize a biologically active peptide such that it is not easily degraded in the organism and its effect lasts longer. To find new novel biologically active compounds. Peptides are synthesized by the solid phase method, a technique invented by Bruce Merrifield in 1963. He received the Nobel Prize in 1984 for this work.

The Origination

In the same way as drawing beads on a string, the desired sequence is incrementally built up. One amino acid is coupled at a time, so that the chain is built while the C-terminal is anchored to an insoluble polymer (resin). One can imagine the resin, like a fungus that extends (swells) when it comes in organic solvents; then the buildup of the peptide can take place. Synthesis is often performed in a disposable syringe equipped with a Teflon filter (see picture). This allows you to use a large excess of reagents that can easily be washed away. As you cannot afford to substitute by-products, it’s important that the yield in each coupling step is over 99%.

The Evolving of the Product

After evaporation, the product is precipitated in diethyl ether, re-dissolved in 10% acetic acid and freeze-dried. Then it is obtained as a white powder. Thereafter, the identity and purity of the product is determined by Liquid-Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). In this way, the substances are analyzed by first separating them by high pressure liquid chromotography, after which they are identified in a mass spectrometer.However to buy peptidesyou need to be careful again and again.